An Enemy's Soul
by Balin Lord of Moria
Summary: Gungi has some thoughts on the horrors of war and how the enemy may not always be evil, malicious, or even corrupt, all on an unknown world during an unknown battle in the Clone Wars.


**A/N:** Some of this is inspired by Sam Gamgee's thoughts in _The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers_, the book (in the movie, they were Faramir's words). I think you'll recognize what they are when you read them if you've read or seen _The Lord of the Rings._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Clone Wars_. Disney and Dave Filoni do. I just thought this would be an interesting storyline for one of the "Young Jedi."

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**Gungi's POV:**

It's an interesting thing, isn't it? Coming into battle hoping you'll only have to cut down nonliving battle droids, only to find out that you're fighting living sentient beings instead.

The Neimoidian troops march forward to meet the clone army of the Star Corps, led by Aayla Secura and Clone Commander Bly. The clones ready their blasters for battle. Master Secura prepares her lightsaber. I'm ready with mine, and my powerful fists are ready to fly, too.

Then, suddenly, there's blaster fire from behind us and off to the side. It's an ambush! There are more than one division of troops on the enemy's side, evidently. Aayla gives the order for Bly to attack the main force, and I prepare to take out one of the ambushes with several other men.

War certainly is mayhem. Although I grew up in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Masters Windu and Yoda made sure that I was familiar with the ways of the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, my race. And I've always been aware that, as tough as my kind are, we live for peace, not war. It's a Wookiee's duty to show full respect for life, for only that way can we be receptive to the Living Force that encompasses all of Kashyyyk, and the rest of the galaxy. The Living Force, you see, connects all life and helps us to live in the moment. And this battle, this war, is against everything I had been brought up to believe. I feel almost tainted by it. Here I am, a Wookiee child, supposed to grow, sustain, and restore life, and right now, I'm taking it instead.

However, like I said, the Living Force also means that we must keep our minds in the here and now, and right now, it's important to keep fighting in order to protect the people of this world, even if it proves useless in the end. So I fight. And fight. And fight.

Suddenly, a Dwarf Spider Droid wades into the battlefront. It sights me. I'm busy fighting a squad of Neimoidian soldiers with my lightsaber, though sometimes I use my fists, too, so I don't notice it. I so desire to leave some of the enemy alive, because they may have reason to live, reasons that the clone army and many of the Jedi Generals don't seem to care about. So I attempt to defuse the situation with a little bit of Force persuasion to make them stop fighting, which is tricky because few Neimoidians understand Shyriiwook. They look at me, confused by my actions.

Then, the DSD-1 fires.

I sense it coming just in time, and I dive to the side, but the Neimoidian Gunnery Battalion isn't so lucky. They get caught in the blast, and are blown twenty feet away from me.

A clone walker, an AT-TE, fires its main cannon, and the Dwarf Spider Droid is destroyed.

The battle continues to rage, but for some reason, I have lost the desire to fight anymore. I run over to the Neimoidian soldiers' bodies, and inspect them for life.

All of them are quite dead.

One body is a particular mess, in a way that I cannot describe here. As a Wookiee Jedi who has seen his share of violence, I am able to tolerate it, barely, but other people may not be so strong-stomached.

But what bothers me most is what I thought as I look at the bloody face. I look into the blank, glazed eyes of the dead soldier, and I realize that he was a man, too, even if he _did_ work for Nute Gunray and the Trade Federation. I learn that it must be sad for all of those who have to leave home for war and don't come back, not only because they may die, but because they will have to kill people who may or may not be as decent as they are in their own little worlds.

I wonder what this slimy soldier's name was. I wonder which one of the Neimoidia purse worlds he came from, and what part of it. I wonder if he really was evil at heart, just because he fought for a Sith-controlled movement. I even wonder what sort of promises, lies, threats, or even ideals drove him from his family and out onto the battlefront to die in a pointless war, and if he would have preferred to stay at home with those he loved, rather than be turned into smoke on the ground.

I also learn at that moment that it is like this for just about every soldier, trooper, and warrior who enters war. We are no different from each other in that respect, those of us who join the army or navy. Maybe even the battle droids have a conscience and a consciousness, based on how life-like they act, because they have a sense of humor that every Jedi General and clone trooper flatly ignores and every Separatist commander snarls at, and they're chatty as heck can be.

I realize then that the battle is winding down. In fact, it's over. Commander Bly comes over and asks me why I'm gazing despondently at a messed-up, dead Neimoidian trooper. I don't reply. Master Secura comes over next, and says that the people of this world will take care of the dead, and that we should be on our way. I demand to know why we do these sorts of things to each galactic world and its people that the Supreme Chancellor and the Jedi Council send us to. Aayla makes the excuse that there are no easy answers to the hollowness of the Clone Wars, but advises me not to worry about it much until I'm older. Then she walks off with Bly.

But why should I wait until I'm older? We don't know exactly how long this war will go on, or what its consequences will be. I don't even know whether Master Secura, or even I, will survive it.

As I follow my senior Jedi back to the ship, I have only one thought left to muse on here.

_War will make corpses of us all._


End file.
